Discovery of Spitsbergen (Willem Barentsz)
Descubrimiento de Spitsbergen (Willem Barentsz)
- Date
- junio de 1596 · confidence high
- Place
- Svalbard, Norway
- Credited to
- Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A Dutch expedition seeking the Northeast Passage that discovered the Spitsbergen archipelago, charted its coasts and wintered on Novaya Zemlya. It gave a name and a map to an archipelago that became a whaling base.
A Norse annal of 1194 mentions "Svalbarði", which could refer to Spitsbergen or Jan Mayen; Barentsz is the documented discoverer and the one who mapped it.
What it led to
- Dutch and English whaling at Spitsbergen
- later Arctic exploration via the Northeast Passage